62 RATIONAL FRUIT CULTURE. 



There are at least ten or twelve kinds of insects which 

 are liable to cause serious damage to the fruits of such trees 

 as Apples, Pears, and Plums. Most of them attack either the 

 blossoms or the immature fruit soon after the blossoms have 

 fallen. But, as they differ widely in their habits, it is neces- 

 sary to fight them in different ways. They are arranged in 

 alphabetical order. 



INSECTS THAT INJURE BUDS, FLOWERS, OR FRUIT. 



Apple-Blossom Weevil. — Apple, Pear. The weevils 

 (small, downy, greyish-black beetles) hibernate in cracks in the 

 bark, and early in spring bore into the flower-buds, and lay 

 their eggs singly in them. The larvae (tiny cream-coloured 

 maggots) eat the stamens and pistil, and the buds wither with- 

 out opening. Spray with Woburn wash in winter. 



Apple Sawfly. — Apple. The sawflies (reddish-yellow and 

 black, with translucent wings) lay their eggs in the calyx of 

 the immature fruit. The small caterpillars (white, with black 

 or brown heads, and ten pairs of legs — two pairs more than 

 those of the Codling moth caterpillar) bore into the centre 

 of the young fruit, and, just before it falls, in June or July, 

 eat their way out at the side, entering the ground to spin 

 yellow cocoons, in which the winter stage is passed. Spray 

 wih paraffin emulsion when the blossom is opening. Destroy 

 all fallen fruit, and in winter hoe the ground, and, if possible, 

 turn in poultry. 



Apple-Sucker. — Apple; .'mother species on the Pear, 

 lioddish-green insects, having some resemblance to aphides. 

 [jike them, they secrete a sticks fluid, and, like frog-hoppers, 

 they spring from leaf to leaf. They lay their eggs on the 

 twigs in autumn, and the tiny larvae crawl in spring into the 

 flower buds, and also into the wood buds, and so destroy them. 



